Fenor and Saint Mary’s do battle in County Junior Hurling decider at Walsh Park

Saint Mary’s are involved in a first county final this Saturday afternoon for the first time in 26 years and in the eyes of many the Touraneena outfit will travel to Walsh Park as the warmest of favourites.

However the chances of their opponents this weekend, Fenor cannot be written off too easily.

Fenor are going into this weekend’s game as very experienced side.

With the past two years they are assisted by those playing hurling in Kill, and between Kill and Fenor they have appeared in something like eight of the last fifteen county finals.

They make the relatively short Journey to the Keane’s Road on Saturday afternoon with a near perfect record from games played in the championship this year, winning six of their eight league games in the group section of the competition and drawing their other two games before entering the knockout stages of the championship.

They made a perfect start to the championship in the east of the county winning their first three games.

In round one they had a 0-14 to 0-4 win over a fancied Ballydurn side, and followed it up with a 2-14 to 0-12 win over Ballyduff Lower and then beat Clonea 2-14 to 1-14.

Fenor’s 100% winning record came to an end in round four of the competition when they drew 1-14 to 0-17.

But they got back to winning ways in round five beating Roanmore 0-16 to 0-12 and followed it up with an excellent 3-14 to 1-10 over Mount Sion and had a 1-10 to 0-7 win over last years champions Bunmahon in round seven.

In their final game in the group stages of the competition Fenor lost another point when they had a share of the spoils with Ballygunner in a high scoring 3-12 to 1-18 game.

Finishing in the top two in the league section of the league part of the championship, Fenor entered the knockout stages of the competition at the semi final stages where they played and beat Ballygunner 2-13 to 1-11 after the ‘Gunners’ beat Ballyduff Lower in the quarter finals.

In the Eastern final played recently at Walsh Park Fenor again came out on top in another tight contest beating Passage 1-12 to 0-13 to claim a place in this weekends championship decider.

In the western half of the county, the competition was split into two groups of five, three of the sides being Junior first string sides and the remainder being the second string sides of the senior hurling clubs from the west of the county.

Saint Mary’s have come through with a 100% record winning the four games they played in the group stages of the competition.

They began with a 2-20 to 1-14 win over near neighbours Colligan, and followed it up with a round two 1-22 to 0-11 win over Ballyduff Upper.

In round three it was another local derby game for Saint Mary’s but the outcome was the same as they beat Fourmilewater 2-12 to 1-12 and they finished the league section of the competition with a comprehensive 9-12 to 1-6 win over Dungarvan.

The top side in the two groups won a place in the two groups won a place in the semi finals of the competition. Saint Mary’s in their semi final played Geraldines who beat Ballyduff Upper in the quarter finals (3-23 to 1-5), and it was the Touraneena outfit that came out on top again here winning 1-18 to 1-10.

In the final Saint Mary’s took on Colligan who were appearing in the final for the fourth year in a row.

They had the better of the first half and turned around with a good lead and while Colligan proved to be a better side in the second half, a goal very early in the second half by Jason Sheehan proved decisive as the side in yellow and maroon ran out 1-15 to 1-13 winners.

Both sides will go into this Saturday’s game in the hope that they can show the same form they showed in their respective divisional finals.

Fenor will be looking to the likes of Ben Gallagher, Tadhg Campbell, Ciaran Kirwan, Conor Rockett, Jim Halley, Kieran Dunphy, Donal Kelly and John Flynn for big performances again.

Saint Mary’s for their part will be looking to veteran’s JP and Aidan Fitzpatrick, David Whelan as well as Eoin Kearns, Kevin Sheehan and Tom Tobin who all won Dr Harty Cups with Coláiste na Déise in the last few years as well as the likes of Denis Coffey who played for Waterford in Justin McCarthy’s time in charge of Waterford, his younger brother JJ, Sean Fitzpatrick and Jason Sheehan a brother of Kevin for much of their inspiration.

Sides from the west of the county have won 12 of the last 15 finals and the last two champions have gone on to win Munster Finals.

Can Saint Mary’s make it 13 from 16 for the west when it comes to County Finals in this century.

To misquote President Obama – yes they can, but it might not be as clear cut as some say the result will be.

The prize on offer here for the winners is a Munster Semi Final spot against the winners of the clash between the Clare Champions and Ballylooby/Castlegrace from Tipperary. Should the Clare Champions come out on top it’s a home game for the winners on Saturday while if the South Tipperary side come out on top, the Waterford champions will have to travel to a Tipperary venue, most likely Clonmel or Ardfinnan on November 15.